Battle of Pearl Harbour
Background When word reached Allied military command that the entire Imperial Shogunate were planning to meet in Tokyo to discuss the Empire's long term war strategy, it was quickly realised that this was an opportunity that could not be missed after the Empire's attack on Los Angeles and the fierce battle in the Bering Strait. But to strike at a distant and guarded target like Tokyo would not be an easy task, especially in the short time frame the Allies had to act. There were several problems; Tokyo would not be lightly guarded, but it was hoped that the Allies would have enough force to break through and accomplish their objective. Early detection of the strike by the Empire, however, would be fatal; as soon as the information reached the Shogunate, the Imperial Navy would be redeployed to protect the the city, greatly reducing the chances of a successful strike. Hoping to increase the chances of the strike on Tokyo, a bold plan was formulated by the Commander-in-chief of Pacific Fleet, Admiral Gregory Smith. As the task force slipped into Japan's home waters undetected, the rest of the Allied Pacific Fleet would participate in a massive scale diversionary attack on an extremely important Imperial naval base in the Pacific; Pearl Harbour. The attack would fulfil several purposes; it would help to obscure the planned attack on Tokyo, and at the same time draw the Imperial navy away from the Imperial home islands. While Smith did not expected the diversionary operation to succeed, if it did then the Empire would have lost one of its most important naval facilities, leaving the Imperial Navy's nearest friendly harbour all the way back in Japan. This was not a move without risk; however. While throwing the Pacific Fleet's full strength into an attack on Pearl Harbour would lessen the chances of the Empire suspecting it to be a diversion, and would convince the Japanese to divert the maximum number of possible ships to the Pacific naval base, at the same time there was a very real possibility that the stronger Imperial Navy would deal the Pacific Fleet a fatal blow. If the decapitation strike failed to succeed, this would give the Empire free reign of the entire Pacific, and leave the North and South American continents wide open to any future amphibious invasions. So, while the task force broke off from the main body of the assembled Pacific Fleet to attack Tokyo, the rest of the fleet, under the direct command of Admiral Smith, prepared for to sail onwards to Pearl Harbour and into the jaws of the waiting Imperial Navy... Force Composition Allied Pacific Fleet The Allies' diversionary attack on Pearl Harbour would have to meet a few conditions in order for it to work. First off, they would have to abandon any element of surprise. Carefully leaked information and seemingly careless radio chatter between the ships of the Pacific Fleet ensured that the Empire would learn of the attack and divert their ships, but also meant that the Pacific Fleet would have a much harder battle ahead of it. Of course, the attack was not merely diversionary, and the threat to Pearl Harbour was very real. The full might of the Allied Pacific Fleet had been committed, with dozens of Assault Destroyers, Hydrofoils, and Subhunters, backed up by four ''Pennsylvania''-class battleships (Arizona, Maryland, Nevada and West Virginia). At the heart of the fleet were no less than three ''Von Esling''-class aircraft carriers; the Nikos Stavros, the Pericles and the Thomas Jefferson. Even then, it was expected that Pacific Fleet would need all the firepower it could get, so Smith requested several additional assets. Two old ''Enterprise''-class Aircraft Carriers, the Yorktown and the Enterprise, were to be involved in the attack, as was the ''Halcyon''-class Aircraft Carrier ANV Clemenceau. All dolphin pods were engaged elsewhere, however, meaning that none could be assigned to attack. Air support would be provided by the six carriers; the Enterprise and Yorktown with their Hornet fighter-bombers, the Von Eslings with their Sky Knight drones, and the Clemenceau with its onboard complement of Vindicators and Apollos. As well as this, Smith had requisitioned 12 Longbow Liberators, which were meant to hunt down Tsunami tanks and harass the Pearl Harbour docks. They would ride on the decks of the Nikos Stavros and the Pericles until the fleet reached Pearl Harbour. Though the assembled force was mighty, it was still outgunned by the Imperial fleet steaming towards Pearl Harbour. Nevertheless, this sizeable display of force had already achieved one of its objectives even before the attack began; Smith's ploy had worked, and even if the Pacific Fleet was wiped out they would have bought time for the strike force to reach Tokyo. Imperial Pacific Fleet and Garrison The garrison of Pearl Harbour had been drawn upon when the Empire launched its invasion of the United States, and as such was understrength, with only 10,000 men remaining at the base, as compared to the full strength garrison of 25,000 soldiers. Still, the garrison had at its disposal several Tsunami tank battalions, as well as a complement of Chopper-VXs, Skywings and Jet Tengus. 300 Burst Drones were stationed throughout the island, alert for any intruders. They would of course be shredded by Allied Hydrofoils in seconds, but before that they would have time to warn the rest of the base. No ships were present in Pearl Harbour as they were all committed elsewhere, but Imperial Pacific Fleet North, damaged in action during the massive naval battle at the Bering Strait, was limping back to Pearl Harbour for repairs when information that the Allies were planning to Allied attack reached Tokyo. When Emperor Tatsu received news that Imperial intelligence had picked up a communiqué indicating that Allied Pacific Fleet was planning to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, he was enraged that the gaijin Allies would attempt to pull a such a trick, and immediately ordered the Imperial West Pacific Fleet to reinforce Pearl Harbour as soon as possible. At the same time, he also contacted Shogun Kamina, at the time on a flight from the Black Tortoise to Tokyo, ordering the Shogun to change course for Hawaii and assume command of the Pearl Harbour garrison. This he did to the best of his ability, organising the garrison over the next few days while waiting for the Allied fleet to arrive. Kamina decided to command the defence of Pearl Harbour from the bridge of the Kirimoto, the flagship of Pacific Fleet North, which had managed to limp into harbour the day before the attack began. Even with the deliberately leaked information, however, the Allies had not given the Empire much time to react. Several hours before the attack began, Allied spies quietly sabotaged the Empire's long range noise detectors. With their eyes and ears knocked out, and the ships of Pacific Fleet West still some hours away, the Pearl Harbour garrison was caught off guard when the Allied attack began. Shadows over the Harbour The attack began swiftly and with incredible ferocity. The first indication that there was even an attack was when a bomb from a Sky Knight slammed into the docks and detonated, killing several Imperial sailors. Several more Sky Knights followed, attacking the docks and the ships in the harbour. The Imperial response was swift; the Defender turrets had been switched to anti-air mode in anticipation of an air attack, and immediately returned fire, launching salvos of missiles at the bomber drones. It was soon realised that this was a mistake when the Sky Knights began to peel away, and several Vindicators and Hornets swooped down from above, and knocked out nearly all the Defender turrets in one sweep. With the anti-air defences disabled, more aircraft came in, and began bombing the docks and the ships in the harbour in earnest. By this time, word had gotten out to the rest of the base, and several squadrons of Tengus were already on their way to intercept the attackers. However, most of Pearl Harbour's aircraft were still on the ground, and they were caught by surprise when several bombs were suddenly detonated, sending most of the airbase up in flames. Several spies watched the carnage from afar, and chuckled to themselves. With the airfield destroyed, a proper response to the Allied aircraft would take sometime to mount. What the Japanese didn't know was that in the meantime, the battleships of the Pacific Fleet had moved into position. Before long, the harbour was saturated with explosions as the Allied battleships opened fire. Kamina was quick to order all forces to return fire at the Allied battleships, but only the Kin was able to see the sea where the Allied navy was stationed, and her 400mm cannons couldn't hit any enemy ships, or even land a shot close to them. Having already realised that something was wrong with the noise detectors since they hadn't given any indication of the approaching Allied fleet, Kamina dispatched several engineers to get to the noise detectors and find out what was wrong with them, while ordering the rest of his forces to screen them. Two teams of engineers, escorted by several Imperial Warriors, made haste for the noise detectors. Unfortunately, before they could reach the noise detectors the Allied Longbow Liberators arrived. While Hornets and Vindicators were unlikely to spot the small group of infantry running towards the noise detectors, one of the Longbow pilots had no such problems, and ordered his gunner to take out the group. The other team of engineers arrived safely at the noise detector and began to repair it, but the other group was now in the middle of a hailstorm of bullets. The return fire that the Imperial Warriors could put up was ineffective, their pulse carbines lacking the range to hit the helicopter, while the Longbow mercilessly gunned them down with its autocannon. Most of the engineers and all of the Imperial Warriors were cut down, but a single engineer made it inside the noise detector. Badly wounded by the Longbow and knowing he did not have much time to work, the engineer quickly fixed the damage the Allied spies had done, though he was losing blood quickly. With his last breath, he pressed the activation switch for the noise detector. Kamina's eyes and ears were now back online. Honolulu Chase Kamina soon learned of the incident at the airfield. Coming to the conclusion that there were infiltrators on the islands, he called up the Shinobi on the islands and asked them to explain this lapse in security. Embarrassed by their failure to catch the infiltrators, the Shinobi quickly swore to hunt down and kill the gaijin. At the same time, the Burst Drones were retasked to locate the infiltrators. The spies had planned to make their escape through Honolulu, which was largely empty of soldiers, since Kamina, believing that the Allies would not attack there, had called most of the forces to the harbour and military base. However, while an evacuation had already been ordered, it was still in progress, and the city was full of people who had not yet been evacuated. This made it easier for the spies to blend in and hopefully get away. However, the Shinobi were much swifter, and the group was nearly intercepted at the city entrance. Only one spy was killed in the ensuing firefight, but the Shinobi now knew that the Allied agents were in Honolulu, and quickly contacted the checkpoints supervising the evacuation of the city. One of the spies attempted to force his way out anyway, and was shot by Imperial Warriors when they realised his identity. The rest of the spies scattered throughout the city, changing into disguises to throw their pursuers off track. Unfortunately, the Shinobi were just as skilled at this kind of thing, and one by one the spies were hunted down. One spy decided to disguise himself as an Imperial Warrior, but made the mistake of heading away from the Imperial base. One of the Shinobi realised the discrepancy and killed the spy with a thrown shuriken. Another Shinobi was skilled in the art of stealth; another spy, thinking he was safe after changing into a fresh disguise, was caught by surprise when the wall behind him suddenly sliced his head off with a ninjato. Another spy was killed by a piece of paper that turned out to be a bomb. The remaining spies, however, had managed to bribe several Imperial Warriors into fighting for them. One of the Shinobi was caught off guard when Imperial soldiers started firing on him, and was messily gunned down. The others, however, quickly adjusted their tactics, making sure to kill the traitors who abandoned the Empire for money. A fifth spy was killed when he attempted to bribe an Imperial Warrior. The Warrior happily accepted the money, before shooting the gaijin in the head with his rifle. Two of the spies had stolen a car, and were driving around the city, bribing Imperial Warriors wherever they ran into them. The car, however, made them easy to spot, and they attracted the ire of a Shinobi by the name of Shi, who began pursuing them. Realising they were being pursued, the spies began to make the Shinobi's pursuit harder. Shi was forced to slide under a truck to avoid crashing into it at one intersection, and at another street the spies simply threw hundreds of thousands of yen out of the window, sending the civilians and soldiers in the area into a mad frenzy as they scrambled to pick up the money. Even so, however, Shi was determined to catch the spies, and even with the car's speed the Shinobi was able to keep pace. Finally, as the spies attempted to turn at another intersection Shi threw a shuriken at one of the tires, causing it to deflate. The car spun out of control before crashing into a building and killing both spies. By now, there were only three spies still alive, but they were proving the hardest to catch. One of the Shinobi pursued his quarry into an old building, but was buried when the roof suddenly collapsed on him. However, the spy met his end when he tried the same trick in another building. This time, the shinobi turned out to be not quite dead, and was able to take down the spy with a thrown shuriken before succumbing to his injuries. Another spy was so skilled at disguises that none of the shinobi could find him, but he met his end when an out of control truck slammed into him. The last spy, by the name of Agent Smith, was proving particularly hard to catch. His pursuer chased after him relentlessly, but Smith was always one step ahead. Finally, at one point, Smith bribed a particularly large group of Imperial Warriors. Unable to deal with so many soldiers, the Shinobi threw a smoke bomb into the crowd of soldiers, blinding them and causing them to fire blindly, but Smith had disappeared. The Shinobi later ran into another Shinobi in an alleyway, lying on the ground and apparently injured from several gunshots. The injured Shinobi explained that Smith had shot him, but as the first Shinobi knelt down to help his comrade he was stabbed in the chest. Smith threw off the mask and the Shinobi fell to the ground, deaed. Meanwhile Shi continued his search, when he saw Agent Smith, in ninja clothes above his fallen comrade. Shi jumped from the roof and prepared to kill the agent with his shurikens, but the gaijin surprisingly shouted at him in Japanese, "Mr. Shinobi, welcome! Let us fight with honour! Without any tools or weapons, only bare hands!" Shi, despite his teachings of honour being lesser than the way of the Shinobi, threw away his katana and shurikens and stood face-to-face twenty metres away from Smith, who watched him closely. They started walking quickly, eventually changing to running towards each other. They met in the middle and started fighting. Dodging, punching, kicking and many other various moves, both combatants were very skilled fighters. Stroke after stroke, kick after kick. They were also using the surroundings and the fight seemed like it wasn't going to end until a stray shot from an Allied battleship hit the street and blew a hole in the ground. Smith used this distraction and kicked Shi in the stomach, throwing the ninja into the hole. Shi was stunned by the fall, and spy jumped after him, with pistol in hand. He aimed at the Shinobi, who looked into the barrel, his expression defiant. Smith began to pull the trigger, but then Shi threw a shuriken at the spy's hand. Smith was taken by surprise while Shi hit him with the Three-Inch Stroke. Smith fell onto the ground and Shi took his weapon and shot the agent in the head. Then he threw the weapon away and left the scene. Clash of the Titans Meanwhile the battle in the harbour continued at full speed. Kamina watched as the Hasuri was destroyed by intense bombardment, while two Naginata cruisers were sunk. The surviving Skywings had now changed into Seawing mode and were firing at the attackers, but they were slowly being whittled down by Sky Knight drones, and the remaining Shogun battleships were damaged. The battle was turning against Kamina; the Allies simply had too much firepower. In desperation he ordered the Giga Fortress Kanto into battle, despite not yet being completed. Nevertheless, the fortress began moving out of the harbour to face the Allied fleet, together with the Rin. Kamina wanted to join the fight, but when the Kimimoto powered on the engines, one of the bombs hit the bridge. The fireball consumed the tower of the Kirimoto where the bridge was. All of the Japanese who noticed the black smoke coming from the bridge of flagship were terrified and some of them stopped fighting and began praying for the life of the Shogun. Suki Toyama, who had talked with Kamina at the time of explosion, feared the worst. She received a surprise though, when after two minutes her display came to life with Kamina on the screen. Kamina was heavily injured, with a bleeding eye, scorched face and various fractures and broken bones, but in his eyes, she saw even stronger determination. The Kanto and the Rin were in the gate of the harbour and opened fire on the Allied Task Force. Pennsylvania battleships returned fire and Admiral Smith sent all available bombers on the aircraft carriers against the Giga Fortress and battleship, when the noise detector operator noticed some incoming ships. Admiral Yamamoto with his Imperial West Pacific Fleet had arrived to aid Kamina in his fight. All four Shogun battleships with the Yamamoto in the lead opened fire. Seeing the new threat, Admiral Smith sent his aircraft against Yamamoto's fleet, discussing it with General Garcia, who suggested sending a third of their fighters from Pearl Harbor, and Smith agreed. Yari mini-subs emerged close to the Allied battleships and aircraft carriers and launched their torpedoes, which weren't strong enough to seriously damage the ships at all. It was up to the Assault Destroyers, who were closing to the Imperial ships, to eliminate this threat. Hydrofoils switched to jammers and targeted some of the Naginata cruisers and Yari mini-subs, preventing them from firing. The naval battle between the battleships became even more intense as they got closer and closer. Both Admiral Smith and Admiral Yamamoto were determined to win this fight at all costs. Yamamoto vs. Arizona The flagship of the Imperial fleet, the Yamamoto, with Admiral Inani Yamamoto on board, went to ramming speed, targeting a nearby Assault Destroyer. It wasn't fast enough to dodge, and the Yamamoto smashed through the ship like a hot knife through butter. But then Admiral Yamamoto noticed that his ship was too close to the Allies' strongest battleship, the Arizona. Seeing that the Yamamoto wasn't able to turn to ram the battleship, the admiral made a very risky decision--to sail beside the enemy ship. When the captain of the Arizona, Duncan Grieve, spotted the Yamamoto getting too close, he turned to his crew and ordered, "Prepare for attack!" The two battleships were closing in on each other, still not firing on each other, something which was unusual to see. All batteries on both ships were preparing, and all men on deck were prepared for the gun battle. When the ships were only fifty metres away from each other, both Grieve and Yamamoto gave the order to open fire. The barrels of the frontal cannons unleashed deadly flames, eating into the hulls of both ships. They were now side-by-side, and men from both decks attacked with firearms. Guns continued to bombard the ships, and soon the ships drew apart. The batteries on their back continued firing, but it wasn't important anymore, as the battleships needed to concentrate on the other ships of the opposing force. The Arizona was hit in too many places, with a breach in its hull slowly taking in water, and having lost the second battery on the bow of the ship. The blast which hit and destroyed the turret also ignited the turret's ammo reserves. It was only by luck that the explosion didn't tear the ship into two. The Yamamoto lost one of its engines, and the generators powering the guns were half-damaged, losing a lot of energy and reducing the power of the guns. Captain Grieve didn't suffer any injuries during the gun battle, but his opponent was hit by shrapnel from Arizona's cannons. The Tide Turns The battle raged on the sea. Battleships were exchanging their shells and bursts while Naginata cruisers exchanged salvos with Subhunter Frigates and Assault Destroyers. The Yari mini-subs, after several unsuccessful attempts to sink enemy ships with torpedoes, desperately began to use kamikaze attacks, sinking three Assault Destroyers, five Hydrofoils and the Maryland. By now, the Kanto had reached the scene of the battlefield, and was blasting apart the Allied Navy with her 558mm cannons. In minutes, 5 Hydrofoils and 3 Assault Destroyers were on their way to the bottom of the sea after being shredded by the Kanto. At the brink of total collapse, the Allies seemed to be defeated when a second wave of Vindicator aerial assaults, freshly resupplied by the Clemenceau filled the sky. However, the Clemenceau lacked delayed fuse bombs, meaning that the HE impact bombs on the Vindicators lacked the penetrating power needed to sink ships. Even so, the sheer number of explosives dropped by the Vindicators completely destroyed 2 Naginata Cruisers and caused a third one to capsize. Additionally, the arrival of the Vindicators threw the Imperial fleet into chaos, as the desperately tried to turn their guns to the sky and shoot down the Vindicators before it was too late. Century Bombers added to the chaos further by sinking another Naginata Cruiser and about a dozen Yaris and Sea Wings in a single pass. In fact, the crew of the Tadashi were so distracted by the airborne enemies, they did not notice the Assault Destroyer Hurricane closing in on them, and in an ironic twist of fate, the captain of the Hurricane lost control and rammed straight into the bridge of the Tadashi, causing the generators on board to suffer a catastrophic failure that tore the Tadashi in half. The Hurricane survived the engagement, but its armoured prow was severely damaged and it had to undergo major repairs. With its bomb reserve now completely depleted, the Clemenceau was forced to retreat from the battlefield, leaving the fleet with no air support. In an attempt to stop the Allies from gaining the upper hand, Kanto had all eight 558mm cannons pointed in the direction of the greatest threat to the Imperial Navy, the Enterprise, and conducted long range bombardment of the area. Sensing an opportunity, Nevada and West Virginia flanked the Kanto through the cover of the smoke created by explosions. They were able to reach within 200m of the Kanto without being seen, at which point both ships split up, pincering the Kanto in between them. The two battleships then emptied their main guns into the Kanto at point blank range, blasting several holes in its thick armour. At this point, the Kanto counter attacked, damaging the Nevada and taking out the main guns of the West Virginia. As the guns recharged for a second shot however, a single passing Sky Knight dropped its payload into a particularly large hole in the deck of the Kanto. The bomb smashed through multiple floors before detonating next to the main reactor, causing the containment field to overload and the core to explode, snapping the Kanto in half and sinking her almost instantly. However, the West Virginia and the Nevada were both in no shape to continue fighting, and had to withdraw from the battlefield. Admiral Smith started doubting his ability to win the battle, when he was shaken from his doubts by video call from Manning. Manning informed the Admiral that the 6th Task Force was only five hours away from Japan and so the 13th should fall back, as they had managed to lure the Imperial Fleet away from him and they weren't going to be able to stop them in time. Smith agreed and at once commanded all Allied forces to retreat. The fighters and bombers quickly expended as much ammo as they could, before landing on their respective aircraft carriers. Ships were turning around while still bombarding the enemy ships. Admiral Yamamoto, seeing that the gaijin were trying to flee, ordered the Imperial fleet to concentrate fire on the larger ships. However, the Assault Destroyers activated their Black Hole Armour, absorbing the fire. The remaining Yaris, even more desperate, rammed the "Yorktown". The explosions were strong enough to cripple the hull. The Yorktown, along with its entire crew, sank to the depths in minutes, with only 12 survivors rescued by Hydrofoils. Yamamoto wanted to pursue the enemy, but Kamina overruled him and ordered him to stay in Pearl Harbour, reasoning that they needed to focus on saving any survivors from the sunken ships, especially with the heavy losses they had suffered. Yamamoto wasn't happy, but he admitted that the Empire needed to remain strong in the Pacific. With this the Imperial fleet returned to port, while the Allies were sailing back to San Francisco to celebrate their victory over the Empire. Aftermath Kamina was taken from the Kirimoto’s bridge and immediately hospitalized. Twelve hours later in the hospital he was informed about the Allied surprise attack on the Tokyo, killing Tatsu and half of the Shogunate, along with a message from Yoshiro written that in case he and Tatsu died, conveying his last wish that Kamina would be their successor after determining that Kamina had direct blood relations to the Imperial family; ensuring that the house of Yamato would continue, while the call from Japan after the attack said the same. Against protests of the doctors, the injured Kamina flew to Tokyo where he sat on the throne, with his bandages covered up by the ceremonial uniform. Admiral Yamamoto and his fleet stationed in the harbour began repairs immediately. Yamamoto often watched on the harbour and the area where the sea battle took place. Seeing the remains of the Hasuri and all other ships and mecha in the harbour, Yamamoto commented it with now a famous quote "graveyard of a foolish fleet.", referring to the fact he and Emperor Kamina fell into the Allied trap to lure them from Tokyo, resulting in the death of the royal family. The losses from Pearl Harbour, along with the losses from Bering Strait and the Soviet and Allied landings on Honshu, forced the Empire to surrender, as their Pacific military might was brought to its knees, along with the heavy damage to the docks. The repairs of the docks took three months, and repairs of the fleet another two months. Admiral Gregory Smith was awarded with numerous awards of valour and personal thanks from President Ackerman and Bingham. Garcia was also rewarded, but he preferred to stay in the shadows and returned to Mexico. Duncan Grieve was promoted to Admiral and was given command over the 13th Allied Task Force. After Shi returned to base with his report and evidence of another Shinobi, Kamina proposed that the Shinobi Guilds reward Shi's exceptional skills. The guilds agreed, and Shi was promoted to the rank of jonin and was transferred to the islands. The Enterprise was modernised after the battle to keep up with the Von Esling-class, and remained in service. Grieve chose it as his flagship and fought against the Soviets in the last three months of the war with it, later using it to support Allied forces in Vietnam. The sinking of the Kanto also led directly to the cancellation of the Giga Fortress Project. The Shogunate decided that Giga Fortresses were too impractical to be of any use, especially after realizing how vulnerable the nanocores were to well aimed precision strikes. The Giga Fortress project has since been replaced by the Musashi program, which fortunately has no such weakness. Category:Battles